Silver Darlings Cafe - Great Yarmouth

As it was the weekend of Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival it meant admission to Time and Tide Museum was free all weekend. We couldn't resist having a good look around the museum after eating our breakfast. It's well worth visiting and it even smells of herrings!

The cafe is open daily and serves all day breakfasts, salads, quiches etc. If the smell of herrings in Time and Tide has given you a craving fear not, they serve kippers here!

There's a large seating area inside Silver Darlings Cafe and a few tables outside in the courtyard.

Some nice table presentation to be found here.

Place your order and pay at the counter.

The menu is beautifully presented.

Prices are reasonable and although not listed on the menu it is possible to order a vegetarian or vegan breakfast.

There's a good selection of hot drinks available.

The coffee here is excellent, it's served with a small and delicious chunk of carrot cake.

The small chunk of carrot cake served with coffee was a really nice touch and so was this, fresh bread, garlic butter and olives.

It reminded me of
dining abroad and although a slightly odd choice before a full English I
wasn't complaining, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sauces were offered and a squeezy bottle of Heinz arrived.

The traditional large English breakfast cost £6.50, it contained the basic items found on a full English and was served with toast. The meats were quality and everything was piping hot, you're given the option of beans or tomatoes.

The pork sausages were good quality, plump and delicious.

A perfect choice of sausage for a full English breakfast.

The bacon was also impressive, it was very browned in places but tasted superb.

The eggs were slightly frilly along the edge but I don't mind this.

The important thing was that the yolks were intact and runny.

A delicious trio of mushrooms.

The beans were served in a pot and the toast was very small and pale.

These potatoes didn't come with the full English, my wife gave me some from her vegan breakfast and very nice they were too.

My wife's vegan breakfast cost £6.50 and there was something else on its way.

A selection of vegetables arrived at the table slightly late.

Having visited Cromer last weekend we decided to head to the coast again once more, this time our destination was Great Yarmouth. With the Maritime Festival in full swing we decided to visit Yarmouth for the day and stop for breakfast somewhere first. Silver Darlings Cafe had been recommended to us so after walking along the seafront we made our way towards the South Quay area. With Silver Darlings Cafe being next door to Time and Tide Museum we just followed the signs to the Museum and found it quite easily...

Upon entering - Silver Darlings Cafe is housed inside a lovely building with cobblestone flooring and wooden beams, it's fairly dark inside so sit by the window if you prefer natural light. Outside is a courtyard where you can sit and enjoy the sunshine if you prefer. The tables inside are neatly laid with place mats, condiments and a beautifully presented wooden fronted menu offering all day breakfasts, salads, sandwiches and hot meals. There's a counter beside the entrance where you place your order and pay, once seated everything is brought over to the table including cutlery, sauces are offered when the food arrives. Initially we loved the environment of the cafe, it was peaceful and really relaxing. Sadly this didn't last for long though, suddenly there was loud banging noise which was pretty unbearable. In the far corner is a small play area for children, at first glance a lovely idea but the large wooden castle featured something that could be banged on top of it and it certainly made a deafening racket. As the loud banging finally ended a loud xylophone started to be played on the side of the castle. The child playing can't be blamed as it's only natural to play with a toy when you come across one. It just seemed like a strange choice of toy to have in a dining area where people are relaxing over a bite to eat. So potentially a relaxing environment but on this occasion it did get very noisy. 5/10

Service - We found the staff here to be very friendly and incredibly accommodating. My wife wanted a vegan breakfast and there was no mention of this on the menu. She was offered a vegetarian breakfast without eggs but with potatoes and vegetables added for the price of a standard breakfast, this seemed reasonable enough. Whilst placing our order we were offered a small chunk of carrot cake with our coffees, a very nice touch indeed! We were going to sit outside but the wind was a bit chilly so we headed inside instead. It was quite dark inside though and I wanted some natural light to take photos. One table by the window had the perfect light but it was reserved, not for another hour though we were told and we were offered to sit there which was perfect. Shortly after sitting down some bread, garlic butter and olives were brought to the table, we were liking this place and it reminded us of the cafe culture abroad. The drinks arrived with carrot cake nestled on the edge and cutlery came with serviettes. When the food arrived we were offered sauces which are quality brands served in the bottle, always the best way in my opinion. My wife noticed there were no veg on her plate so she enquired at the desk, within a few minutes it arrived in a separate bowl. Most certainly great service and incredibly efficient, we were made to feel very welcome here. 9/10

Presentation - The meats weren't cooked particularly evenly but the eggs had intact yolks and everything was placed onto the plate with care. 7/10

The food - I loved the sausages and bacon served on this breakfast, nice plump and juicy pork sausages and thick slices of bacon. Both had plenty of flavour and were clearly good quality meats. The eggs were in reasonable shape, a bit frilly on the edge but the yolks were intact and runny. The mushrooms were delicious and the beans fairly standard, piping hot but in quite a lot of juice. The toast was far too small, I looked across at my wife's breakfast which was served with proper sized slices of toast and felt quite envious. Although not served usually with the English breakfast I'll also mention the potatoes served on my wife's breakfast as she let me try some, they weren't crispy but did taste really nice. As a full English breakfast goes I thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly the meats which were excellent. 8/10

Value for money - The large full English breakfast cost £6.50 and an Americano coffee cost £1.90. The prices here seemed really reasonable considering the little extras like the carrot cake chunk served with coffee and bread, garlic butter and olives served before the food arrives. The quality of the food was good and l was full up for a long time after I left. 8/10

Vegetarian option - Not listed on the menu but do ask as they seem happy enough to provide a vegetarian and vegan breakfast if you request it.

Overall - With so many breakfast establishments in Great Yarmouth offering gut buster breakfasts stacked with cheap economy sausages it was nice to find somewhere focusing on quality over quantity. The breakfast at Silver Darlings Cafe offers only the basic items usually found on a full English breakfast so if you're looking for black pudding or hash browns then it may not be for you. If however you're happy with the key items all cooked to order using quality ingredients then this place is well worth a look. Beans and tomatoes would have been better than choosing between the two but it wasn't a big deal. Things got really noisy halfway through our meal but despite this we were still glad we'd checked this place out. Certainly the best breakfast I've had in Great Yarmouth so far and definitely worth a visit if you're in the area. 7/10